


Almost Me Again

by Sparksrise



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, atlas ball
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2019-10-28
Packaged: 2021-01-05 18:57:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21213473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sparksrise/pseuds/Sparksrise
Summary: Atlas ball one shot.The team is forced into a Schnee gala, Blake and Yang choose to make the most of it. Being surrounded by Atlas high society is not the most welcoming place but, Yang has a plan for that.





	Almost Me Again

The first time Yang heard Blake laugh again, she was surprised it was in Atlas of all places. The sound echoed a past that was very different from the scene playing out on front of Yang right now, but it reminded her of easier days. The food fight in the cafeteria, out voting Weiss and building not so stable bunkbeds in their dorm, an impromptu road trip to the beach. She remembered thinking, at her lowest points, that she would never hear it again or even that she didn’t want to. She was glad it still sounded familiar. 

They were begrudgingly getting ready for a far too fancy Schnee Gala. They had decided that playing nice with Weiss’s dad was their best option, for now. Jacques was clutching at straws trying to maintain his company’s crumbling reputation and they all hated that they had to be part of it for tonight. Weiss was attempting to give Ruby a ‘How-to-walk-in heels without breaking your neck’ emergency lesson while Blake tried to stifle her laughter as she watched the all too familiar bickering. 

“I had hoped your coordination had improved over time…apparently not.”

Ruby stuck her tongue out at Weiss before flopping onto the nearby couch in defeat.

“I haven’t improved because I don’t live in heels like you do Weiss! I haven’t worn them since the Vytal Festival dance.” 

Yang returned to brushing her hair, so it looked “presentable”, while Weiss tried to get Ruby on her feet again. 

“You don’t have to dance in them I promise, I just want to make sure that our leader doesn’t die trying to walk over to the punch bowl!” 

“What if, I take them off now, walk downstairs and over to the punch bowl then put them on and just stay there for the night?” Ruby asked pleadingly. 

“I am not even going to dignify that suggestion with a response,” 

“Come on Rubes,” Yang called. “If you can figure out how to fire grimm destroying lazers from your eyes, you can figure out walking in heels.”

“That can not be used as the standard for the rest of my life. Far too much pressure, stop playing that card.” Ruby replied.

“Not our fault you’re an over achiever sis, plus you’re the leader so, lead by example.”

“How about I lead by example by defying the cruel rules of Atlas high society and wearing whatever I want to the gala.”

“How about” Weiss interjected, “We don’t do that. This group is going to attract enough attention as it is without adding dress code violation to our growing list of transgressions.”

Blake smiled to herself as she watched Ruby and Weiss bicker. They had been infuriating at times when they were at Beacon, forcing her to find quitter reading spots more than once. Right now though, it was a welcome sight. One she had once resigned herself to never seeing again. They had come so far since then, a lot had changed for better, and worse. Walking into a Gala in the heart of Atlas, without a white mask or black bow was definitely not something she thought she’d ever do.

“Ruby Rose! If you do not get up and practice one more time, I will summon a knight and it will drag you off this couch.”

Blake and Ruby both burst into laughter, neither believing Weiss was actually serious. Until she made one, very serious step towards Mytenaster and Ruby quickly jumped up from her seat. She had to go slowly and was not exactly elegant but, Ruby managed to get from one side of the room to the other, closely monitored by Weiss.

“Everyone ready then?” Blake asked.

“As I’ll ever be” Yang replied, winking as she caught Blake’s eye in the mirror. Blake winked back instinctively just as Yang hopped up from her seat at the vanity, pleased to see the slight tinge of pink in Yang’s cheeks when she turned around.

The group made their way downstairs, Weiss occasionally having to steady Ruby while Blake and Yang walked in step close behind. Qrow was off meeting with Ironwood, again, with Oscar and hopefully, Ozpin. They wanted one last crack at talking some sense into the general. Maria had gone to visit an old friend after announcing she would “literally rather be just about anywhere else” and the others said they would meet them downstairs.

Blake was nervous. Walking int a room packed with the most influential and wealthy (not to mention, likely bigoted) people I Atlas wasn’t exactly her comfort zone. But she was done with hiding. When they had been buying their clothes for the occasion, she had stared at a spool of black ribbon for ten minutes, she was proud that she hadn’t picked it up. She knew she was likely to be the only faunus in the room tonight, but that wasn’t a foreign experience for her, she would stare down every person in the room if she had to, and she knew her team would be right by her side. 

Yang had known that the gala was going to be big, but she still found herself unprepared for the sea of faces turning to stare as soon as they entered the room. Weiss was immediately swept into a conversation with a few guests that looked about her age. Ruby stood awkwardly beside her, determined to stay by her partner’s side. 

“Care to dance?” Blake asked. Yang was startled for a moment, by the question and by how beautiful Blake looked as she asked. 

“I didn’t think that you’d want to get any closer to this particular crowd than was necessary.”

“They are going to stare and whisper and judge either way Yang, we may as well have some fun.”

“You make a good point, how times have changed, now it’s you convincing me to dance.” 

Blake rolled her eyes, but she was smiling as she grabbed Yang’s hand and pulled her into the middle of the dance floor. Yang tried to ignore the way her stomach flipped as she let herself get pulled along. 

They danced for most of the evening, stopping briefly to talk with Nora, Ren and Jaune and less briefly when Ruby interrupted and nearly knocked them over in an attempt to get to Yang. Yang’s eyes had been on her partner the whole time, until that song came on. She stopped immediately and searched for her sister in the crowd. But Ruby being, well Ruby, appeared beside her in an instant practically vibrating with excitement and missing her heels. 

“Sorry to interrupt Blake but it’s our song! Mind if I steal Yang for a few minutes?”

Blake laughed but nodded. “She’s all yours Ruby.”

“Try not to miss me too much Belladonna.” Yang called as Blake went to stand with Jaune. 

They dramatically cleared space for themselves in the crowd. And as the song reached the first chorus Yang and Ruby moved in unison. They had made up most of the steps when they were kids, dancing in their living room or in the garden (occasionally with an uninvited audience of Qrow, their dad or an odd number of raccoons) it was somewhere between a waltz and the macarena and was in no way elegant but it was fun. She saw Weiss watching from the other side of the room, she was smiling but repeatedly buried her face in her hands. Yang found Blake in the crowd a few times, pausing long enough to grin or wink. They finished as dramatically as they had begun as Yang spun Ruby around. 

“You’ve been holding out on me, I never knew either of ye could dance like that.”

“Please don’t tell me you think that was better than what I have been doing all night, I will have lost so much self-respect, my ego can’t take it Blake.”  
Blake laughed, making Yang grin even wider in return. 

“Up for on more dance?” Yang asked as a slow song drifted across the dance floor.  
Blake offered her hand and Yang bowed as she took it. 

“You’re such a dork” Blake said, giggling. 

“I was going for smooth or charming, but I’ll take what I can get.”

They glided back to the dance floor together and Yang didn’t take her eyes off of Blake for a moment.  
Things had been tense since Haven but Yang was grateful that they were finally getting back to this, to them. After everything they had been through since Haven they were finally doing better, old and new wounds were starting to heal, hopefully not too many would scar. They still needed to talk, about what had happened in the past and what could happen going forward. 

A part of her knew that Blake must feel the same way she does but, the chance of being wrong terrified her more than any grimm. The last thing she wanted to do was put more weight on a fragile foundation, but she couldn’t keep ignoring it either. Maybe if they weren’t facing an unwinnable fight and the potential end of humanity things would be different. They would have more time to do this right. To go on an actual date, something Yang had reimagined far too many times.

“You look like you are a million miles away” Blake said, startling Yang back to reality. 

“Oh, sorry, I was just thinking.”

“They say too much of that is bad for your health. Want to talk about it?”

“It will just sound stupid.”

“Try me.”

Yang sighed, gaze fixated on the ground, “I know that a lot has happened since we were first years in Beacon.” I know that there are countless plans to made and fights to win before we get have anything resembling normalcy again.” Yang finally lifted her head to meet Blake’s eyes.  
“But I was thinking, for just tonight can we just be us? Not the people who are in way over their heads trying to save the world but a version of us that can just, exist and focus on being us again. Whether that’s the girls who lost sleep over Torchwick and kicked butt at the Vytal festival, or the girls who went through hell and back just to end up right back in the middle of the dancefloor, together.”

Yang felt like she was rambling and not making any sense, but Blake was looking up at her and smiling. It gave her an extra boost of courage as she spun Blake around and pulled her in closer. 

“Someone very wise told me once that taking time off can be a necessity from time to time,” Blake said, smiling. “Although I don’t know what version of me could be comfortable in this particular setting.”

Yang practically heard the ding of a lightbulb turning on above her head, she knew exactly how to find a much better setting. She grabbed her scroll from her bag and tapped out a message, hoping she wouldn’t regret this decision.

“Come on, it’s time to find the real party.”  
They ended up leaving alone, even though Ruby and Nora looked ready to jump at the chance to leave. Weiss had interjected claiming that they couldn’t afford to lose more eyes and ears, adding “You two were attracting too much attention anyway” before having someone show them out. 

Blake had no idea what Yang was up to, but her excitement was contagious. So, she focused on her as they wandered down the streets of Atlas.

“Where are we going?”

“Patience Belladonna, you’ll see soon enough.”

“Okay, but you’ve never been here before.”

“I got directions from an old…friend? I guess?”

“Not exactly reassuring Yang.”

They walked in silence for a while, Blake felt like it was the first time she was really seeing atlas, she was technically still here for a mission, but the streets still seemed more peaceful and beautiful than she remembered. 

“I feel like, I owe you an explanation.” Blake admitted quietly.

Yang stopped walking and turned to Blake, meeting her gaze. 

“You don’t owe me anything Blake, you did what you had to, and you came back, I meant what I said at Haven and on the train. All that matters, is that we’re all back together.”

“I know, then I want to explain, to talk about it.”

“You’re sure?”

Blake nodded.

Reliving it still hurt and they knew it would for a while.

They talked about the girls who had just started to believe they could have forever. Forever to train and fight and grow and do it all together. About how it had all disappeared in one night, and the days that followed, when they could barely believe in tomorrow. How they had feared they would never all see each other again and rarely let themselves hope otherwise. 

They talked about Blake running and about her coming back. About her promising to stay and knowing where she belonged. About facing their demons and finally being able to move forward and how that was both freeing and terrifying. 

“I was never angry, I was sad, but never angry. But we’re here now and that means more than any of it.”

“I missed you, all of you.”

“We missed you too Blake, and we’re going to be there for you now, no matter what.”

Blake nodded, it felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. They walked for a few more minutes before Blake finally started paying attention to where they were again. She looked around confused, they were in what seemed like an abandoned residential area.

“Yang, did you bring us here to get kidnapped?”

“Is that not a good date idea? Okay noted I’ll tell Nora she was wrong.”

“Date?” Blake asked, eyebrow raised at her now wide-eyed partner.

“I - ugh, I didn’t mean, I mean if you - hey look there it is!” Yang said, desperately trying to change the subject. 

Yang was pointing at a door that looked like it led to an apartment, there were steps down to it, the windows were just below street level and Blake could just about make out the sound of music coming from inside. Yang knocked on the door enthusiastically, cheeks still tinged red.

By now Blake had a good idea who they were going to meet when they went inside but seeing Neon swing the door wide open dressed in neon pink and green, made all the more dazzling in the UV light, covered in glitter, glow sticks and wearing her signature rollerblades, was still a shock. 

“You made it! Groovy! I was beginning to worry you got lost. Come in! I’ll go find the rest of my team.”

As Neon stepped aside to let them in Blake finally got a proper view of the room, she was sure she had stepped into another reality. She surveyed the room, wide eyed, it looked like someone had knocked the walls of an old apartment to make the open space that was now filled with people dancing, mismatched furniture and a raised platform for the DJ at the back. But it wasn’t the room or the loud music that had startled Blake. It was the people in the crowd. There were faunus everywhere, dancing and singing and drinking and there were just as many humans doing exactly the same. It was incredible. 

She realised suddenly that she was holding Yang’s hand, she vaguely realised that she had been the one to reach for Yang as she took in the crowd but wasn’t sure who had interlaced their fingers. She saw her awe and excitement mirrored in Yang’s face. This time, Yang was the one who pulled her towards the dance floor, Blake felt rooted to the spot until she felt Yang reach for her other hand and tug her gently towards the multi-coloured dance floor.

“Feeling a bit more comfortable?” Yang asked, grinning. 

“Definitely an improvement, dangerous to set such high standard for a first date.”

Blake laughed as she watched Yang turn scarlet, again.

Maybe if something like this can exist in Atlas, there was more hope for a better future than Blake had ever let herself imagine.

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from Almost by hozier, listened to it a lot while writing this.  
Hope you enjoy!  
My tumblr is @Sparksrise, nearly time to freak out about volume 7 together!


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